That's the day when Whittier drops its school uniform requirement for a "spirit day," and the children dress how they wish in accordance with a theme, such as patriotism, sports or sleepwear.

The other days of the month, Snyder says, "They're a much more settled group." The pupils suit up in various combinations of white, navy and khaki, with girls also allowed a "Whittier plaid" jumper in red, blue and green.

"It really takes away the 'I have these fancy clothes and you don't' thing that goes on," Snyder said.

Whittier adopted uniforms in 1996, as the public-school uniform movement was building to its peak, marked by President Clinton's endorsement in his State of the Union address in 1998.

As elsewhere in the country, public-school uniforms in the Puget Sound region are more popular in larger, urban districts. In Seattle, 13 schools specify uniforms for pupils; in Tacoma, 14 do. Whittier is the only uniformed school in Everett; a few more are scattered among suburban school systems.

The '90s was the big decade for uniform policies, although a smattering of schools in the region have joined the fold since then. Although no central statistical record exists, the movement seems to be ebbing nationwide, with increasing reports of schools abandoning the effort.

But at Whittier, support for the uniform requirement remains strong, even passionate.

"I love it," Dani Groves said one recent afternoon as she waited in her car by the schoolyard for her son's dismissal from kindergarten.

"The children do better academically," she said. "I'd like to see the middle schools and the high schools do it as well."

Groves, who lives outside the Whittier attendance zone, obtained a variance from the school district so her child could attend the school, primarily because of the uniform policy. So did Tina Maier, whose son dresses in Whittier colors for fourth grade.

"There's no bullying or teasing that goes on because of clothes," Maier sad. "It's a great equalizer."

Valerie Rusch, whose daughter goes to third grade at Whittier, said the policy "makes mornings quick and easy."

And, Rusch said: "Shopping is easier. Frankly, I wish all of the schools had uniforms."

In response to a Clinton directive, the federal Department of Education mailed a "Manual on School Uniforms" to every school district in the country. The manual cited several potential benefits of uniforms, such as reducing fights over clothing, squelching the wearing of gang "colors," making it easy to recognize intruders, alleviating peer pressure and fostering discipline and concentration.

There's not much in the way of hard data to prove or disprove those claims. Whittier ranks slightly above the average in the Everett district in results on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the benchmark state test administered in grades four, seven and 10; in Seattle, the uniformed schools, which are concentrated in the city's poorer neighborhoods, all rank below the district's WASL averages.

Fellow Whittier parent Marci Cooper joined Fullerton for the after-school pickup and echoed her praise of the uniform policy.

"I just think it's the most wonderful thing," Cooper said, waiting for her daughter, a second-grader. "There are no struggles about what they're going to wear."

Whittier principal Mark Toland mentions another advantage: economy. The khakis, polo shirts, turtlenecks and other uniform components are inexpensive and easy to find, he said.

Parents can opt out of the requirement for their children, although only 12 pupils out of 411 are expected to do so this year, Toland said.

"It gives our students a very clean, professional, formal tone," Toland said of the uniform policy. "They dress for a specific purpose -- for school, for learning -- and the uniforms contribute to that."